# Why do some Simpsons characters have blue hair? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** cartoons-animation\ **Created:** [March 11, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616 "2004-03-11T02:55:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![moejuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@moejuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejuck)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/1 "2004-03-11T02:55:25Z")
Most Simpsons characters that have hair have black, blonde, or brown hair. A few, most notably Marge and Milhouse, have blue hair. I’m guessing there’s nothing behind this, but it seems odd that they would use normal hair color for most of the characters, then slap blue hair on a few just for the heck of it. Any guesses? Anyone seen my Focusin? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/2 "2004-03-11T03:09:51Z")
WAG: at some point “blue” was supposed to be “black,” the same way “yellow” is meant to be “pink.” So Marge is supposed to be a white woman with black hair, but was drawn as a yellow woman with blue hair. In later seasons, when they started introducing new characters, they forgot about the “blue=black” rule, and drew characters with actual black hair. Of course, if there was a character in the first season (or worse, in the Tracy Ullman shorts) who had black hair, this whole theory has just been blown to shreds. Alternately, they’re punk. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/3 "2004-03-11T03:27:28Z")
The prevalence of blue hair is due to some secret Van Houten-Bouvier-Wiggum link that will come up during the series finale. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/4 "2004-03-11T03:34:39Z")
It’s been expressly stated that Marge dyes her hair blue. It’s not meant to be black by anything I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/5 "2004-03-11T04:51:43Z")
Cite! (Damn, that’s almost as much fun here as during the sermon…) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/6 "2004-03-11T05:01:39Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > if there was a character in the first season (or worse, in the Tracy Ullman shorts) who had black hair, this whole theory has just been blown to shreds. Didn’t Moe have black hair in some of the early ones? Now it’s grey. ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@White\_Lando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lando)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/7 "2004-03-11T05:04:20Z")
> [@Northern Piper](#): > > Didn’t Moe have black hair in some of the early ones? Now it’s grey. chief wiggum did too before his was changed to blue. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/8 "2004-03-11T05:07:36Z")
> [@Northern Piper](#): > > Didn’t Moe have black hair in some of the early ones? Now it’s grey. His chestnut roots don’t stay so chestnut on their own. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/9 "2004-03-11T05:29:37Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Cite! Apu: Oh, Mrs. Simpson: it may interest to you to know we’re having a sale on blue dye #52. It is your hair color, I believe. Marge: Whatever do you mean? I don’t die my hair. [sheepish laughter] Moe: Naw, naw, you got it wrong, 'pu. She’s blue #56. Marge: I don’t know what you’re talking about. [walks off] [http://www.snpp.com/episodes/1F20](http://www.snpp.com/episodes/1F20) ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/10 "2004-03-11T06:24:59Z")
Marge has been dyeing her hair since she was a girl? Because it’s blue in flashbacks. My guess is that it’s a cartoon work-around thing: if you really draw someone’s hair black, it’s hard to show details like curls or waves, so the cartoonists substitute blue for black. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/11 "2004-03-11T06:44:36Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m guessing there’s nothing behind this, but it seems odd that they would use normal hair color for most of the characters, then slap blue hair on a few just for the heck of it. It’s not really any odder than yellow skin, is it? Or four fingers? It’s just part of the style and is supposed to be eye-catching. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/12 "2004-03-11T07:02:23Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Marge has been dyeing her hair since she was a girl? Because it’s blue in flashbacks. I’d guess that blue is a natural hair color in the Simpsons world (just as yellow is a natural skin color) and Marge has gone prematurely grey. Her mother and sisters have grey hair, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/13 "2004-03-11T07:11:18Z")
I’d guess that it just looked good. ---
**Author:** ![BooBoo316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooBoo316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooBoo316)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/14 "2004-03-11T09:40:23Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Marge has been dyeing her hair since she was a girl? Because it’s blue in flashbacks. From TWDuke’s link: Homer: I was telling Marge we could save some money if she only dyed her hair once a month. Edna: [gasps] Marge dyes her hair? Homer: Oh, yeah. She’s been as grey as a mule since she was seventeen. ---
**Author:** ![moejuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@moejuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejuck)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/15 "2004-03-11T12:38:59Z")
I guess what I am really wondering is how blue was picked in the first place, and why only for a very few characters? Is there some sort of symbolism? Comparing it to the yellow skin color isn’t the same, I would say. All of the characters have yellow skin color, except Apu and Carl. If one of the characters had red skin, wouldn’t that make you wonder? I’m sure it’s probably nothing, so no one needs lose sleep over it.l ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/16 "2004-03-11T13:15:12Z")
I think you’re just reading too much into it. I know the yellow skin is pretty much universal and only a few characters have blue hair, but I think it’s enough to establish that it’s a normal hair color in Springfield. I don’t see any symbolism to it, just a choice to expand the visual palette a little. ---
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/17 "2004-03-11T13:38:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Comparing it to the yellow skin color isn’t the same, I would say. All of the characters have yellow skin color, except Apu and Carl. If one of the characters had red skin, wouldn’t that make you wonder? What really makes me wonder is how Smithers changed form being brown to yellow… Honestly, I just think cause blue is complimentary to yellow. No other reason. If you’re going to ask these questions, you have to ask why Bart doesn’t really seem to have hair, just a spikey head. Ditto for his siblings. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/18 "2004-03-11T14:36:34Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by DakotaDog_ > What really makes me wonder is how Smithers changed form being brown to yellow… He was only brown in the first couple of episodes of the first series. This was because one of the artists in the studio went on a racial-representation spree, giving characters different skintones at random. Smithers got restored to his intended, yellow state, because the writers wanted him to be a toadying white guy. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/19 "2004-03-11T14:58:10Z")
Perhaps Groening and company throw in things like blue hair to counteract the tendency of some fans to expect rational reasons for things in a fictional cartoon town. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2004, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616/20 "2004-03-11T15:02:48Z")
I’m not so sure that yellow is supposed to necessarily represent caucasian though. There have been numerous references (mostly by Homer) to the fact that they are all yellow. (sorry, I can’t seem to find any websites with scripts or episodes to cite) “Kiss my hairy, yellow butt!” “Someone’s yellow belly is showing.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-simpsons-characters-have-blue-hair/233616.md?page=2)